CA$ 14,502

408

A haiku is a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world.

Why Haiku? The 5-7-5 haiku structure is built on nuance and minimalism… it seemed like a great fit for the solo engine I was working on. From there, variant rules for up to four players were added.

The 4 heroes: Bronwyn, Cresswell, Cora and Booshmu

The Drinking Quest games were very loud and obnoxious, this game is kind of quiet and introspective. Both games are pretty funny and have a lighthearted tone.

Four monster card samples

How easy is Haiku Warrior to learn? It’s more complex than the Drinking Quest games but still much easier than say the Dungeons & Dragons beginners box.

I've provided approximate USD conversion for everyone since most backers will be outside of Canada where I live

Set-up is very quick and the cards act as the GM. The game has differently themed quests where you’ll be fighting monsters, finding treasure, foraging for food and visiting the shop.

After playing through six increasingly difficult quests whoever has collected the most souls at the end of the game wins! In a one-player game you’re given a chart of scores to see how well you did. The game may lavish praise upon you for scoring well or make fun of you for scoring poorly.

Not pictured - High quality two piece box with fancy gloss

There are four pre-made characters included and each of the six quests is always randomized so there are all kinds of re-playable variables.

Each quest is made up of Six monsters, one fruit card, one boot card, one hat card and one weather card. You only use 3 - 5 cards per quest (depending on # of players) and they're always shuffled so you don't know which ones you'll get. Every play-through is different!

Celebrity Mega-Dungeon: Once these stretch goals are unlocked I'll use the haikus that the game designers, comic writers and musicians below have written and make up to 20 additional cards! This will be a one-off quest aside from the six quest campaign. All of these cards will have new haikus, new jokes and new art!

Also each quest has a different DRAGON BOSS!

The story is told in an abstract way through Haiku so a lot of the story will be filled in with your imagination! There are simple game mechanics that are easy to both learn and play in the same sitting.

Four more monster card samples

On top of that we have stretch goals for another 20 Cards (14 of them with haikus written by the celebs below and another possible 8 written by YOU the backers) Guests are ordered randomly:

Thanks to these backers and talented industry pros for writing haikus!

Cards with haikus from Robin Laws, James Stevenson and Jim Zub

The artwork for the game was done by Deanna Laver (The Four Kingdoms Saga, Dragon in the Doghouse and Drinking Quest), Aaron Plants (Dave's Wurld, Anarchy Plants), Joseph Farnack (Aspiring game designer who drew a map of the Haiku Warrior world) and Jason Bradley Thompson (Mangaka: The Fast & Furious Game of Drawing Comics).

The cover art was done by Claudio Pozas who has a fantastic gaming resume including artwork in the new Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons books.

Also special thanks to "The Guys" for letting me use their song "Like No Other" for this Kickstarter video.

If you're interested in the Haiku Warrior / Drinking Quest: Trilogy Edition combo here is a blurb on Drinking Quest:

It's a Drinking Game and a Tabletop RPG! The first 3 Drinking Quest games were cult hits-now they've been remastered with new content.

Game comes with 220 colour cards (with no repeats) D4, D6, D8, A Pad of Character Sheets, Oversized Shop Card and Instructions

The goal of Trilogy Edition is to bring all three games together seamlessly in one package and make all kinds of improvements like:

Full Colour Cards

An Improved D4, D6, D8 System (Instead of 3D6). This adds complexity to the game without adding a single new rule.

Bigger Cards while still staying a good size to bring to the pub

An epic looking box that looks great on store shelves or with your home collection

At the start of the game you'll pick a pre-made character each with different stats and special abilities.

The cards act as the dungeon master and there are six "quests" in the game each with ten cards that come up randomly. You'll only use a fraction of the cards each time you play so every play through is different.

There are five types of cards

Monster Cards: The most common. If you pick up a monster card it's a one-on-one fight to the death. You either win (earning the coins and souls to move forward) or lose (getting nothing and having to spend 2 souls to come back). There is an image with six monster cards above in this Kickstarter.

Boot Cards: You'll perform a Saving Throw corresponding to your TREASURE HUNTING stat. If successful you find a random pair of boots which each have a different special ability. You can only wear one pair at a time so you'll have to swap out an old pair if you want the new pair.

Hat Cards: You'll also come across magic hat racks. Your TREASURE HUNTING skill is important because it can be used on two different types of cards. If successful you find a new hat which gives you a new ability. Same as with the boots - only one hat at a time. Otherwise that would just look silly.

Fruit Cards: Perform a Saving Throw for FORAGING to see if you can find some fruit. You'll need fruit to heal your character in the game so these cards are nice to get.

Storm Cards: This card will throw some kind of horrible danger at you and you'll need to perform a Saving Throw for your SURVIVAL to avoid it. Your heart will sink when you get these cards.

A Storm Card, Hat Card, Boot Card and Fruit Card

The Characters

Each of the four character is balanced and has a unique play style. The character cards have stats on one side (for quick setup) and an avatar on the other side that will be used to keep track of your current hat and boot powers.

Risks and challenges

I run a small publishing company for a living which has shipped over thousands of games globally so a project like this is second nature for me.

You can also see the Kickstarter I did last year for Drinking Quest: Trilogy Edition which shows how I run a campaign and keep the backers happy.

The October window is an exaggerated estimate, the games could be ready as early as August or September.

I'm going to make a great game and send it out in a reasonable timeframe!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 30 or more
About $23

Converts to under $24 in US dollars

You get a hard copy of the game mailed out to you, are eligible for all stretch goals and you get a PERSONALIZED HAIKU written by series creator Jason Anarchy on the back of a picture of his mighty fist.

You can now also submit your own haiku for a possible stretch goal!

Free Shipping in the US

*Personalized haiku will likely be nonsense and will incorporate your name in a funny way

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 75 or more
About $57

Converts to under $60 US dollars

You get a hard copy of both Haiku Warrior and a copy of Drinking Quest: Trilogy Edition mailed out to you and are eligible for all stretch goals. (Saving about $15 off what the final retail price will be)